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Improve Your Bottom Line With The Right Call Handling

Every small business has its measures of success. Return customers, sales numbers and profit margins are a few of these. But one of the most telling rates of success in a business is closing rates. The number of customers who buy what you offer compared to the number of potential customers you attempt to sell to is an important number and one that sets many businesses and salespeople apart. Good closing rates are the hallmark of a great salesperson and can make all the difference for a company.

Growth Requires Change

However, as businesses grow there are many things that we put into place to help them run smoothly. One of these is the use of an answering service. Agents can be trained to take calls for your business and can handle overflow calls, as well as after-hours calls so there is always a live person answering the phone. This is just smart business and a great stop-gap measure in making sure you deliver great service without hiring extra staff, but do you know when to stop using such services and to invest in new employees instead?

Evaluating Returns

Dedicated sales representatives and full-time employees tend to have much better closing rates than call center agents. This is due to a variety of factors. However, call center usage is still a significantly more effective investment than letting extra calls go to voicemail or even worse, go unanswered. Determining when you need to expand is a matter of comparing closing rates for the call center calls and how many calls are handled this way. You may be surprised to learn how many potential sales are lost. If call volume warrants, you may be ready to hire more staff to handle calls to your business.

The Right Tools Make an Even Bigger Difference

One of the most effective tools for call handling in your business is a phone system that routes calls efficiently. Cloud based system, Halloo, sends calls to the right person based on options you set up in the system. If that person is unavailable, the call can be immediately routed to the next logical person. Through careful attention to set-up and call routing, you can be sure that very few calls end up being sent to your overflow call handling service, or the ones that are sent are calls that are not sales-related. This means better closing rates and a better bottom line.

Several times a year, systems that your business relies on should be evaluated for effectiveness. With more than one-third of the current year already past, if you haven’t reviewed call handling for your business this year, the time has come. Are sales calls getting handled by the right entity? Are lower closing rates from a call center costing you in opportunity lost? Take a closer look and find out just how effective your call handling is.